Second Best
by Empress Empoleon
Summary: George just wants to be loved. / George, and always being second place.


"_If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."-Wayne Dyer._

* * *

George just wants to be loved.

* * *

He's always been second place.

Ever since the beginning, he was part of a duo. It was always Fred&George, and there was a reason behind that; when you thought of the Weasly twins, it wasn't George who came to mind.

He and Fred were twins though. Twins is synonymous for two, and everything was half between them.

But he didn't mind - that is, until something came along that they couldn't share.

* * *

"Who is she?" George asks the guy next to him.

"You don't know? That's Angelina!"

Gazing at the girl in front of him, George begins everything.

* * *

Angelina Johnson is a beauty.

George has done a lot of thrilling things in his life already, but nothing even comes close to the exhilaration of being around Angelina.

A waterfall is rushing through his ears. Hot blood is running through his veins, like gasoline about to set him on fire. His heart is going to jump out of his chest.

He can't breathe. He can't think. He can't speaks. He can't move.

He thinks that she will be the undoing of him; too bad he is right.

* * *

It turns out that acting is a hidden talent of George's. It also turns out that it comes in handy. A lot.

George Weasley, the second part of the ridiculous Weasley twins, can't look like he's utterly smitten by the goddess that is Angelina Johnson.

He's the class clown. He's not supposed to fall in love, and definitely not with the popular, pretty girl.

Going after her can only bring trouble.

(As it turns out, the heart is the one organ of the body that doesn't listen to the brain.)

* * *

George puts his feelings aside for a while and pretends that Angelina is nothing to him, except a prank target and sometimes a friend.

They grow up together. Through the years, she becomes one of their closest friends.

She is the one to tell them apart, to not see them as Fred&George, but rather Fred and George, two separate individuals.

She is the one to break into their world.

* * *

The Yule Ball is approaching. This I'd what George has been waiting for, a chance to show her how he feels.

He never thought asking a girl out could be the hardest thing he had ever done

She is standing in front of him, so close he could touch her, but far enough to be only called a friend.

"Angelina-" he starts because this is now or never-

"Go out with me?" Fred finishes for him, flashing her an irresistible grin and linking her arm in his. With no choice but yes, Angelina laughs, like a chorus of lost opportunities.

Sighing, he asks Alicia out.

* * *

She is stunning, in her silky apple green dress, twirling on her feet like an agile ballerina.

Of course, that is the wrong she, so George turns his attention back to the girl in front of him, who no matter how hard she tries, will never be an Angelina.

"It's Angelina, isn't it?" Alicia sadly says, glancing towards the couple that is laughing boisterously and stepping over their feet. "I know how you feel."

He stares at Alicia. She's pretty, in her emerald dress, that trails on the floor and makes her look like a princess. If his heart hasn't already been stolen, maybe he could have loved her.

She's still wistfully gazing at them. He can see it in her eyes because he has donned the same look before - the look of unrequited love.

"Fred," she whispers, and that tells him all he needs to know.

They spend the night dreaming they were with someone else.

* * *

After that, he and Alicia are unmistakably closer.

They just understand each other, without having to ask. They know where their hearts lie, and having a pillar of support to cry on is nice.

Of course, Fred and Angelina are closer too, closer than George would like.

Twins share everything. Fred holds a piece of his heart and Angelina holds the other, and they are unknowingly crushing it every time their lips touch.

* * *

One day Alicia leans over and quickly pecks him. His mouth agape, he demands an explanation.

"I just thought," she says. "I just thought that maybe we could use each other as mutual support, because it really hurts, to keep watching them."

He looks at her sadly, before kissing her.

* * *

Admittedly, dating Alicia is better, because it gives him something to do other than wile his days away staring after a girl who isn't looking back.

If he thinks hard, he can almost imagine that Alicia is Angelina, that her pale skin is coffee and her blue eyes are chocolate.

If he believes Alicia is Angelina, she becomes Angelina, and that almost makes him forget about the real Angelina, who's in love with his twin and not him.

* * *

"I can pretend you're Fred," Alicia whispers, and for some reason, it hurts, even though he had always known she didn't love him.

Maybe he had tricked himself into thinking Alicia was Angelina, and slowly fell in love with her too.

His heart is breaking apart. He has nothing, now that Alicia ran away with the last part of him.

* * *

George has never hated Fred more.

He's his twin, Merlin, and he never thought he'd ever hate him, but he does.

Fred just keeps stealing the spotlight, taking everything away right from underneath him.

He's always going to be second best around him, because nobody ever sees George for anything other than Fred's little sidekick.

(The only problem is that he can't hate Fred without breaking the piece of his heart that his twin holds.)

* * *

He's starting to think that no one will ever love him.

* * *

He finds Angelina alone one day, and musters up the courage to ask her something.

"Angelina?" he asks. "Why Fred?" He leaves the, "Why me?" out, hoping she'll read between the lines.

She gazes at him, her eyes reading him. "He's amazing."

"What do you think of me?" he forces out, and licks his dry lips.

She pauses a moment. "You're amazing too," she decides finally. "But you're not Fred, you know?"

He laughs it off, but inside he is breaking.

Should he be happy that she recognizes him as an individual, or upset that she prefers Fred over him?

He settles for just being heartbroken.

* * *

George is a chipped piece of the whole.

But, he can't let himself be labeled as damaged goods, so he fixes himself up and runs around pretending to be the sidekick everyone seems to think he is.

He doesn't fit anymore with Fred. He doubts Fred notices the difference, but he does, and he knows that he will never love Fred like he used to.

* * *

He wonders if Fred actually cared for him or not. Is he his twin brother, or a stranger?

He can't be his brother. Family doesn't go around trampling over the pieces of your heart; Fred is smarter than he appears and George is positive he knows about their shared love for Angelina.

* * *

"Fred?" he asks one evening, when they're closing the shop. "You love Angelina, right?"

He looks up, grinning. "Yeah. She's the best."

George silently agrees.

"Hey, George?" Fred pays him on the shoulder, before sending him a reassuring smile. "You'll find someone soon. Don't worry."

He doesn't think so.

* * *

In the storeroom of the shop, he screams.

If Fred had heard him, he sure didn't say anything.

What did he ever do to deserve this? Why must he constantly be so alone?

Why does he keep loving people who don't love him back?

* * *

It's the middle of a war, but the battle has only just begun.

"I love her!" George shouts, because dammit, he's tired of being quiet.

"I love her more," Fred retorts, being as stupidly competitive as ever. "And she doesn't love you!"

As if he didn't already know that.

But still, Fred saying it makes the pain all the more real; the words stab him right in the heart.

* * *

George and Fred; the whole that fell apart, Angelina Johnson being the rift.

* * *

"We're going to die," Fred tells him, holding his hand as they look on into the chaos of the final battle.

"I know," George says.

"Look, about Angelina-"

"It's fine," he interjects. "I've moved on."

He hasn't, and he knows Fred will see through the lie.

But still, right now, lying to each other will make then feel better, so Fred goes along with it. "Thanks."

George squeezes his hand before letting go. He is about to walk away when Fred puts a hand on his shoulder.

"George?" he begins, gulping. "You're my twin brother. You're a part of me, and that's more than Angelina and I any day."

Fred has always been the one to have trouble expressing himself. This must be his way of saying he loves him, before they run off to their deaths.

"Twins?" he asks, and he smiles, because no matter how much his heart pains for Angelina, Fred will always be a part of him.

"Twins."

And then they're worlds apart.

* * *

George stumbles into the Great Hall, panting and thanking his stars for still being alive.

He sees a clump of red-heads and moves towards them, counting each one.

There's one missing, and he has a sick feeling in his stomach on who it is.

Pushing through his family - they're all crying, which is not a good sign - his eyes fall on someone he knows all too well.

Crumpling to his knees, he presses his forehead to Fred's and screams.

* * *

That day, a part of George dies along with Fred.

* * *

The war is over. So is George.

Angelina is heartbroken. He feels so hurt over everything, so hurt over her pain, that he can't feel anything at all.

One day, she approaches him, and holds out her hand.

"Fred wouldn't want us wasting our loves over him."

Bravely, she smiles, her lips quivering slightly. George knows that this is why he fell in love with her.

* * *

George and Angelina; they're together for something they lost rather than something they created.

To George, their relationship is nothing like he had ever imagined. She's actually quite similar to Alicia - always pining for Fred, when he's not looking back.

One day, he calmly asks her, "Do you love me, or Fred?"

She is guiltily silent. The other half of George's heart dies, because now the one person he has loved for almost all his life told him that she will never love him back.

"I thought as much," he sighs, turning away. She shouldn't have to watch him fall apart.

* * *

Later that night he cries, and Angelina joins him. They hold each other in their arms and try to fill the empty space between them that Fred left behind.

* * *

All George ever wanted was to be loved, but he couldn't get even that much.

* * *

Little Roxanne snuggles closer into his arms, flipping the pages of the album rapidly.

"Dad, is that you and Mum?" she asks curiously, pointing at a faded picture of her mother dancing with someone he doesn't want to think about.

She doesn't know about her late uncle yet; he doesn't have the heart to tell her. (After all, it died along with Fred and Angelina.)

"Yeah," he finally chokes out. "Yeah, that's your mum and I dancing."

* * *

A/N: This pairing is angst.

_Done for:_

_Quidditch Competition - Round 5: Weasleys!_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Potions (Write a story between 2000 and 2300 words. This is 2028. I used the prompts Roxanne Weasley, someone must cry, Angst, stunning, George/Angelina, and apple green.)_


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